Chef and restaurateur Glenn Sheridan wanted to keep his participation in a culinary competition to himself. But after winning his preliminary round, the owner of Le Bon Marché in North Bay found it was anything other than a well-kept secret.
“It had been eight years since I entered a competition, and I applied for it and didn't think I would be accepted,” he said. “So I didn't say anything to anyone.”
The Discovered Culinary Competition, held in Toronto every week for three months, pits four chefs against one another. After completing three rounds – appetizer, entree and dessert – the one remaining chef is the winner.
The 12 winning chefs, two voted as fan favourites from Facebook and two from the West, will compete in early March in semi-final rounds and then the final. The format is similar to the Food Network program, Chopped. During each round, the chefs are given a mystery basket of ingredients that must all be utilized in a certain amount of time.
Since his restaurant is closed on Mondays, Sheridan headed to Toronto in mid-January to compete after he was accepted.
“If you tell everyone, then they all hear about it. I was nervous, and tired, since I work seven days a week, and just wanted to go down and have fun,” he said.
“I really hoped to get past the first round because driving to Toronto for a 20-minute event and then coming right back would have been embarrassing.”
He did tell his best friend what he was up to and in no time, his participation was all over a social media site.
“I texted him when I won and I drove home right after. I got in at 3 a.m. and I was wired so I went on Facebook and it was all over,” Sheridan said.
“I had to work the next day and people were coming into the restaurant congratulating me and I even got a call from the mayor (Al McDonald) that afternoon. It made me feel like a celebrity.”
Even though he kept telling people he just won a preliminary round, the competition has sparked business and customers tell him they have heard about his participation.
The three rounds went by very fast and he said there was no way to prepare for it.
“It's actually easier to make something from a mystery basket as opposed to knowing ahead of time what you have to cook,” he said. “You start studying and then you worry about what the others will cook and then you flip out if you look over and see someone you think is making something better than you.”
Sheridan said a few minutes before the competition, he stood by himself in a corner and blanked out and approached the rounds very “Zen-like.”
“The judges are looking at how you can handle pressure and how creative you are. They know you can cook,” he said, “but how good are you?”
The last round, which is preparing a dessert, is not his forte and he had no idea how he would fare.
“I am not a pastry chef and baking is a science. It's not like cooking, which is love, and where you can just add things. You can't do that in baking.”
He managed to impress the judges with his poached apples on top of a ginger snap crust.
“I was very shocked I won. The judges pick you apart as well. I am a classically-trained chef so I really kept it simple. I am not into that new wave kind of cooking, even though it is fun to watch. And now that everyone knows, I will be really nervous for the semi-finals,” Sheridan said.
The winner of the competition gets to spend a week in Spain at a Michelin-star restaurant working with the chefs.
“For a chef like me, it would be a complete dream and would be an absolute honour. You would learn so much,” he said.
He opened Le Bon Marché on Main Street a year ago and offers French (Parisian) cuisine. The restaurant is one of four in Ontario that serves absinthe and offers an absinthe club as well.
“I wanted people in North Bay to be able to enjoy fine dining without having to drive to Ottawa or Toronto,” he said. “I want to bring back going out for dinner as your night out.”
The business has been doing well and word of mouth and social media have helped him bring in new customers.
Despite the long hours he puts in, Sheridan doesn't mind.
“To me it's not a career but a lifestyle. I wouldn't have it any other way. I love doing what I do.”
